The Coats for Kids Foundation, headquartered in Alexandria, VA, has finalized an important, new partnership with Operation Warm, headquartered in Chadds Ford, PA. In announcing the partnership, Paul Darby, president of the Coats for Kids Foundation said, “We have grown our program over these past four years to a greater extent than we ever expected by delivering more than 12,000 new winter coats to needy kids. Today, we are taking the next step in our growth and evolution by partnering with Operation Warm, a ten-year old organization that shares the same commitment that we have to put new coats on needy children.”

Dick Sanford, founder of Operation Warm, said “We are thrilled to be working with Paul & Cheryl Darby and the Coats for Kids Foundation. Our combined efforts will, without a doubt, provide many more winter coats to children in need!”

The partnership will allow the Coats for Kids Foundation to access all of the “back room” functions of Operation Warm which this past year delivered 126,000 new winter coats to recipient organizations for distribution to needy kids. These functions include:

<--Accessing a guaranteed supply of high quality, new winter coats designed by and for Operation Warm—four styles in three distinct color combinations,

<!---A state-of-the-art logistics system which will process and pack our requests for new coats, anddelivery by Federal Express to recipient organizations.

“We realized earlier this year that Coats for Kids could not continue to grow without a dedicated staff and a logistics system linked directly to our internet-based order-entry system,” said Paul Darby.

“Coats for Kids could not obtain the discounted rates for outbound shipping to recipient organizations or the tremendous advantages that come from our partnering with an organization that directly purchases 100,000-plus new winter coats. And with energy costs skyrocketing, we also were unable to develop a cost-effective shipping relationship to get new coats from manufacturers to our warehouse in Virginia.”

“This new program does not change our responding to requests from any U.S.-based recipient organization (provided that we have the undesignated funds or that local funds are raised) or receiving donated new winter coats with tags attached, or the USAF ACQ/IMA new coat drive at Christmas. We recognize that many families and individuals want to physically purchase and donate new coats, and we are grateful for their commitment to the Coats for Kids Foundation,” Darby added.

The partnership will allow the Coats for Kids Foundation to access all of the “back room” functions of Operation Warm which this past year delivered 126,000 new winter coats to recipient organizations for distribution to needy kids. These functions include:

<!--Accessing a guaranteed supply of high quality, new winter coats designed by and for Operation Warm—four styles in three distinct color combinations,

<!---A state-of-the-art logistics system which will process and pack our requests for new coats, anddelivery by Federal Express to recipient organizations.

“We realized earlier this year that Coats for Kids could not continue to grow without a dedicated staff and a logistics system linked directly to our internet-based order-entry system,” said Paul Darby.

“Coats for Kids could not obtain the discounted rates for outbound shipping to recipient organizations or the tremendous advantages that come from our partnering with an organization that directly purchases 100,000-plus new winter coats. And with energy costs skyrocketing, we also were unable to develop a cost-effective shipping relationship to get new coats from manufacturers to our warehouse in Virginia.”

“This new program does not change our responding to requests from any U.S.-based recipient organization (provided that we have the undesignated funds or that local funds are raised) or receiving donated new winter coats with tags attached, or the USAF ACQ/IMA new coat drive at Christmas. We recognize that many families and individuals want to physically purchase and donate new coats, and we are grateful for their commitment to the Coats for Kids Foundation,” Darby added.